LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,102)
  • Text Authors (19,442)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation © by Ferdinando Albeggiani

O hast du dies gewollt, du hättest nicht
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE ITA
O hast du dies gewollt, du hättest nicht
durch eines Weibes Leib entspringen dürfen:
Heilande muß man in den Bergen schürfen,
wo man das Harte aus dem Harten bricht.

Tut dirs nicht selber leid, dein liebes Tal
so zu verwüsten? Siehe meine Schwäche;
ich habe nichts als Milch- und Tränenbäche,
und du warst immer in der Überzahl.

Mit solchem Aufwand wardst du mir verheißen.
Was tratst du nicht gleich wild aus mir hinaus?
Wenn du nur Tiger brauchst, dich zu zerreißen,
warum erzog man mich im Frauenhaus,

ein weiches reines Kleid für dich zu weben,
darin nicht einmal die geringste Spur
von Naht dich drückt -: so war mein ganzes Leben,
und jetzt verkehrst du plötzlich die Natur.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Vor der Passion", appears in Das Marien-Leben, no. 10, first published 1912 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Maria Bach (1896 - 1978), "Vor der Passion", 1950-65 [ soprano and piano ], from Das Marienleben, no. 4, Wiener Stadt- und Landesbibliothek [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), "Vor der Passion", op. 27 no. 10 (1922-3), rev. 1948, from Das Marienleben, no. 10 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Siegfried Garibaldi Kallenberg (1867 - 1944), "Vor der Passion", 1926 [ alto, 2 violins, viola, violoncello and double bass ], from 6 Gesänge aus dem Marienleben von Rainer Maria Rilke, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Fritz Lubrich, Jr. (1888 - 1971), "Vor der Passion", 1929 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Thomas Sleeper (1956 - 2022), "Before the Passion", 1986 [ voice and violin ], from Triptych, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Josep Soler i Sardà (1935 - 2022), "Vor der Passion", 1959 [ soprano and piano or instrumental ensemble ], from Das Marienleben, no. 3, revised 1979 [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ENG English (Knut W. Barde) , "Before the Passion", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Goldet) (Pierre de Rosamel) , "Avant la Passion", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Prima della passione", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 117

Prima della passione
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the German (Deutsch) 
Oh, se questo volevi, non avresti dovuto
nascere da corpo di donna:
i redentori dovrebbero cavarsi dai monti,
dove durezza con durezza si rompe.
 
Non è per Te un dolore, la Tua valle amata
devastare così? Non ti accorgi quanto sono abbattuta?
Non ho che ruscelli di latte e di lacrime,
e tu, Figlio, restavi sempre immenso.
 
A questo prezzo mi fosti promesso.
E perché allora non balzasti subito, indomito, fuori da me?
Se tu solo di tigri hai bisogno, pronte a sbranarti,
perché allora mi venne insegnato in una casa di donne,
 
a tessere una candida e morbida veste per te,
dove nemmeno la più piccola traccia
di cucitura potesse sfiorarti -: Questa finora fu tutta la mia vita,
e ora, d'un tratto, Tu ogni cosa sconvolgi.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2009 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Vor der Passion", appears in Das Marien-Leben, no. 10, first published 1912
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2009-03-18
Line count: 16
Word count: 127

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris